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The Marshall Plan: Section 3: Breaking the Cycle Summary

Wow. This Is Really Scary. How Do We Fix Europe?

  • Marshall says the economy is based on a division of labor: farmer grows food, city-dweller makes stuff. This has broken down because of the war.
  • He follows his chain of logic. Because of this breakdown, the governments have to support their citizens, which leads to no money for rebuilding the country.
  • He says that Europe needs more help in the form of money and food from America, and it can't pay for it.
  • So Marshall's solution is to break the cycle. Europeans need money they can be confident in, and that's the American dollar.